A folding kayak is a direct descendant of the original Inuit kayak made of animal skins stretched over frames made from wood and bones. A modern folder has a collapsible frame made of some combination of wood, aluminium and plastic, and a skin made of a tough fabric with a waterproof coating. Many have integral air chambers inside the hull, making them virtually unsinkable.
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The first workable folding kayak was built by Alfred Heurich in 1905, a German architectural student. Heurich paddled his creation on the Isar River near Munich and took out a patent on the design, called the Delphin (German: Dolphin), the following year. The Delphin had a bamboo frame with a sailcloth hull stretched over it. It could be folded up and carried in three bags, each weighing less than 4.5 kg (9.9 lb).
The folding kayak was made commercially successful by Johannes Klepper, whose factory was at Rosenheim, Germany. Klepper kayaks were very popular for their compact size and ease of transport. Klepper's Faltboot was introduced in 1906, many years before hardshell boats were commercially produced. Oskar Speck undertook his seven-year journey from Germany to Australia in the 1930s using folding kayaks made and sponsored by another manufacturer, Pionier-Faltboot-Werft. During the Second World War the special forces of the day, COPPS, RMBPD etc. had developed for them about a dozen state of the art canoes ( these were designated by the military as canoes and they were given a codename.. 'Cockle' ). In reality they were kayaks. These ranged from the Mk 1 early folbot' type to the four man alloy; most were 'collapsible'. Most interestingly was the Mk 2 which collapsed but along its 15 ft length... to just c. 7 inches [1] This mk 2 and its three man Mk 2** were of the same design and by the same man Mr Fred Goatley.[2]
Walter Hohn developed and built the first Swiss folboats in 1924 where they were tested in white water conditions. He introduced them to Australia when he emigrated with 2 examples; a 1-man and a 2-man in 1928, patenting his design (Aust. Patent 117,779) and initially producing them for sports use. During the Pacific war he and Hedley's P.L. built a total of 1024 for the army. Hohn supplied 2 folboats for the highly secret 'Operation Jaywick' training at Camp-X near Sydney in 1942. Hohn's first military model 'Folboat Kayak Type' was succeeded by the 3-seater MKIII of 17 ft. length, which became the longest running Australian built folboat to be used during the Pacific War. Hohn's first army folboats were tested at the ZES commando base in Cairns Queensland by commandos under the direction of Major Ivan Lyon for preparation of the 'Operation Jaywick' raid. They included Capt. Sam Carey, Robert Page and Albert Sargent. They were also used for training and actual use in 'Operation Rimau'. At least 33 raids, reconnaissance patrols and rescue missions in the Pacific Islands, notably RIMAU, COPPER and PYTHON used these folboats.[3]
The Klepper Aerius II model was introduced in 1951 and is still in production. In 1956, Dr. Hannes Lindemann crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an Aerius II, proof of the folding kayak's integrity and seaworthiness. Their light weight and non-metallic construction has made them the choice of many military special forces. Nautiraid of France produces a special model for military use, as do Klepper and Long Haul, who supply German and US Special Forces, respectively. The newest design innovation has come from Canada's TRAK Kayaks, who in 2007 have come out with a polyurethane skin over aluminum frame design with hydraulics in the cockpit to make the skin extremely taut and also to change the shape of the hull for varying paddling conditions.
There are about ten major folding kayak manufacturers today, and a handful of small, one-off makers. In addition to Klepper the best-known brands are Feathercraft, Folbot, Pakboats, TRAK Kayaks, Triton advanced, Long Haul, Nautiraid and Pouch. Long Haul double kayak hulls are identical in form to Kleppers, so a Klepper Aerius II frame can be used with a Long Haul MK-II skin, and vice versa.
Most folding kayaks have very similar construction, even though the materials may differ. Some boats use frames made of mountain ash, spruce and marine plywood, while others use aluminium tubing and various plastics, and a few newer boats such as Fujita and Firstlight and Klepper use carbon fiber or glass-reinforced plastic tubing. Typically there are solid bow and stern pieces, and anywhere from three to seven ribs connected via some sort of flexible attachment to a number of longerons. Many boats follow the basic design pioneered by Klepper in having a folding set of floorboards and gunwales as well as additional longerons to add stiffness and shape. Many foldings also use air sponsons (up to four in the Klepper Quattro) to tighten the skin on the frame, adding stability, the ability to paddle in very shallow waters and security.
Most folding boats have two-part skins, with different materials used for the deck and the hull. Decks can be made of a breathable cotton/hemp blend, as Klepper has done since their early days, or of coated synthetics, as TRAK, Feathercraft, Folbot, Nautiraid and Pouch do. Each approach has its own particular benefits and drawbacks; all work well in practice. Hulls are generally made of a heavily coated synthetic fiber. In the early days, rubber coated cotton canvas was used, while the modern boats use a synthetic elastomer —Hypalon, polyurethane or PVC—over a synthetic (typically Dacron) cloth. The tension on the hull is what gives certain folding kayaks performance advantages over others. TRAK's design has including a hydraulic system to apply tension to the hull to address performance.
Assembly time and mechanisms or designs vary by manufacturer and model. Recent design innovations come from the likes of TRAK, Folbot and Klepper. Assembly times can be as little as 8–10 minutes or can reach upwards of 40–45 minutes with more complex designs. Complexity of assembly is sometimes due to smaller cockpit openings and narrow efficient designs that lead to speeds equivalent to hardshells. Disassembly is typically half the assembly time.
The stability and design robustness of several folding kayak models makes them ideal for upwind and downwind sailing. Dr. Hannes Lindemann's Atlantic crossing was in most part achieved by sailing.
Folders are known for their durability, stability, and longevity: The Klepper Aerius I (a single-seater) has been used successfully for white-water kayaking (before the era of modern polyethylene boats), due to its durability and excellent manoeuvrability, while many Kleppers have been in frequent use for more than 25 years. It is not rare to see on water some Klepper folding kayaks that date as far back as 1930's and 1940s.
Although some hardshell kayakers are critical of folding boats and do not regard them as true kayaks, they exhibit many of the same paddling characteristics as the original skin-and-frame vessels of the circumpolar north. Some folding kayaks, like the Feathercraft Khatsolano and the TRAK T-1600, are equal in performance to the fastest hardshell kayaks. Other than contemporary replicas of Inuit, Aleut, and Eskimo kayaks and baidarkas, they are the closest relatives to the skin-and-frame boats of the past. The TRAK boat goes a step further, allowing the kayaker to adjust the shape of the hull with its hydraulic system for varying conditions on the water.
Paddling efficiency: In a hardshell kayak, waves and chop on the water can slow down the momentum of the craft (pushing the kayak back). The membraned skin on folding kayaks help the kayak absorb the energy of waves and current, which aids in the compulsion of the boat through rough conditions. Some paddlers find skin-on-frame kayaks to be very efficient paddling rougher waters.
The folding kayak that used to belong to pope John Paul II has been on display at the Archdiocesan Museum in Kraków, Poland since 2003. When already a cardinal, the future pope shared the ownership of "The Pebble" with a student friend of his, who later donated it to the museum.